What Is A Cutting Diet? Guide To Fat Loss Without Muscle Loss

A cutting diet is an essential aspect of overall health and wellness. It forms a vital part of a well-structured training cycle, usually after a period of muscle gain.

While it seems easy enough, it’s not quite as simple as eating less and moving more. This certainly helps, but you can’t ensure long-term success if you don’t have a well-organized, science-backed plan in place.

Tracking your calories and macronutrients while considering your daily lifestyle is essential to this diet. A study found that participants who tracked their food for five days a week showed significant, sustained weight loss. These results back up the importance of using an organized approach to weight loss.

If you’re wondering how to lose weight, this guide gives you everything you need regarding a cutting diet plan. We’ll look at what it is, how to implement it, and possible considerations as part of your cutting workout plan.

What Is A Cutting Diet?

Knowing how to lose fat without losing muscle requires learning the definition and purpose of a cutting diet. Understanding this means you’re able to better apply it to your lifestyle. 

A cutting diet uses scientific principles that require a certain level of organization and consistency. This includes setting your caloric intake (energy intake) and macronutrient distributions (amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fat). Within this, you need to consider meal timing, frequency, and when to implement cheat and refeed days. 

A cutting diet is a dietary plan designed with the main purpose of losing fat while preserving muscle mass. It is catered to each individual, involving a sustained calorie deficit with higher protein and carbohydrate intakes. 

It’s most effective when combined with a proper exercise routine. This should involve resistance training and cardiovascular exercise. These provide a suitable stimulus to maintain muscle mass while ensuring an adequate calorie deficit. 

A cutting diet tends to be used by bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts. Athletes competing in weight-category sports also use one to make weight before competition. Most cutting diets last between 4–12 weeks, with integrated diet breaks at four-week intervals. This can include planned cheat meals and refeed days.

How To Do A Cutting Diet?

Follow these steps to put together your cutting diet plan:

Calculate Your Calorie Intake

The first step when learning how to start a cutting phase is to calculate your calorie intake. Your calorie intake, or energy intake, is defined as the total amount of energy consumed. Calories are the amount of energy contained in the foods and drinks you consume. 

Energy balance is the amount of calories consumed versus the amount burned through activity. This determines whether an individual gains, maintains, or loses weight. In this case, we’re looking to lose weight. 

• Total Daily Energy Expenditure = Maintenance Calories (The amount of energy we need to stay the same).

A calorie calculator can be used to provide a baseline estimate of your calorie needs. Once you have this, you’re able to add the suitable calorie deficit. 

Generally speaking, losing approximately one pound per week requires a 500-calorie deficit. Therefore, subtract 500 from your estimated maintenance requirements to get your calorie intake.

Combatting low energy on a cutting diet is one of the main considerations, especially when resistance training. Therefore, while a larger calorie deficit may lead to quicker weight loss, the potential side effects are not worth it. 

Determine Your Protein Intake 

In terms of a bodybuilding cutting diet, a high protein intake can help fat loss. It does this by reducing appetite, boosting metabolism, and preserving lean muscle mass. Appetite is a natural desire to eat, while metabolism is the process of turning food and drink into usable energy. 

These are three key factors when in a sustained caloric deficit. 

Your daily protein intake needs increase when on a cutting diet. This is because you’re taking in fewer calories and exercising more. 

Consume a daily protein intake of 1.05–1.41 grams per pound of body weight per day. This is to avoid muscle loss when cutting. This should be done through high-quality lean proteins and protein powder supplements.

If we use 2000 calories as the estimated daily caloric requirements for weight loss, here’s how to calculate the protein. For this example, we’ll use a 165-pound individual.

2000 calories – 932 calories = 1068 calories (remaining for fat and carbohydrate intakes).

• Suggested protein intake should be at 1.05–1.41 grams per pound of body weight per day. 
• 165 pounds x 1.41 = 233 grams of protein.
• 233 grams x 4 calories (1 gram of protein has 4 calories) = 932 calories.

Determine Your Fat Intake 

Fats are crucial for hormone production, preserving muscle mass, and supporting overall health. Therefore, a balanced cutting diet approach that contains fats is recommended. An intake of 20%–30% of the total daily energy supply is recommended. This should be enough to support these vital processes while still ensuring a sufficient calorie deficit. 

Here’s how this works for the example above:

• Total suggested daily calorie intake = 2000 calories. 
• Suggested fat intake = 20%–30% of the total daily energy supply. 
• 2000 calories x 0.20 = 400 calories.

400 calories divided by 9 = 44 grams of fat (1 gram of fat has 9 calories)

Determine Your Carbohydrate Intake 

Carbohydrates are our body’s primary source of energy in most cases. Therefore, consuming an adequate amount can help maintain energy levels for workouts, and with it, muscle mass.

When using a cutting diet, carbohydrates should come from the remaining calories left after calculating your protein and fat requirements. This means you need to subtract the calories from protein and fat from the estimated total daily intake needs. Here’s how this looks using the same example.

• Maintenance calories – protein calories – fat calories = carbohydrate calories.
• 2000 – 932 – 400 = 668 calories remaining for carbohydrates.
• 668 calories divided by 4 (1 gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories) = 167 grams of carbohydrates.

Here’s how the intake would look for our 165-pound individual:

Other Things To Consider

Below are things to take into account when following a cutting diet:

Meal Timing And Frequency 

Meal timing refers to the strategic planning of eating throughout the day. This will also determine the frequency, or how often you eat. 

While this may be beneficial for high-level competitive athletes, it isn’t as important for general fat loss. Instead, more focus should be on the correct calorie deficit and macronutrient intakes. If you can get these right, you can choose a meal timing and frequency that fits around your lifestyle.

If you’re struggling with hunger control during a cutting phase, eating smaller, more frequent meals may help. However, make sure to still prioritize a consistent calorie and macronutrient intake. 

Cheat Meals And Refeed Days 

A cheat meal is a meal that deviates from the normal dietary plan. It’s a scheduled break from clean eating for a cutting phase, allowing you to eat foods that are usually avoided. 

A refeed day is a temporary increase in calories to maintenance or slightly above. This is done to prevent the negative effects that a sustained calorie deficit can have on metabolism and mental health.

Cheat meals may be incorporated once a week when on a cutting diet. Refeed days may be incorporated every 1–2 weeks. The correct frequency depends on the length of the cutting diet, individual response, and current mental state.

This should be discussed with your personal trainer or other qualified professional. The suggested ranges above can be used as general guidelines.

Best Cutting Diet Foods 

Implementing a cutting diet without losing strength or muscle mass isn’t easy. These are the best cutting diet foods, chosen for their high nutrient content and low calorie count. 

• Lean Proteins — Chicken, turkey, tuna, cod, tofu, tempeh, and eggs.
• Fiber-Rich Vegetables — Broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, bell peppers, asparagus, and green beans.
• Healthy Fats — Avocado, flaxseeds, walnuts, almonds, nut butters, and olive oil.
• Complex Carbohydrates — Oats, quinoa, brown rice, sweet potato, whole wheat bread, and legumes. 

Tips To Keep In Mind

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when following a cutting diet. These allow you to eliminate some of the common cutting diet mistakes.

• Implement Exercise — Using a cutting diet with a workout plan is essential when in a calorie deficit. Resistance training helps preserve lean muscle mass while cardiovascular exercise increases calorie burning.
• Drink Enough Water — Proper hydration is vital for efficient metabolism and waste product removal. Aim for a daily intake of 3.7 liters as a male and 2.7 liters as a female. 
• Use Supplements — While whole foods should form the foundation, supplements can be used to plug the gaps. Useful ones while on a cutting diet include protein powders, multivitamins, omega-3s, and fat burners. We discuss the best fat burners for men in a separate guide.
• Consume Fiber-Rich Foods — High-fiber foods can help you stay fuller for longer while in a calorie deficit. Good examples include fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.
• Meal Prep — Preparing meals can help you save time, stay on track, and avoid potential cravings for convenience foods. Aim to do food prep at the start of the week.

Conclusion

A successful cutting diet involves creating a sustainable calorie deficit while ensuring adequate intake of the main macronutrients. Start by working out your maintenance calories before using the macronutrient guidelines detailed above. The majority of your intake should come from whole, nutrient-dense foods to support overall health.

Fat burning supplements provide a useful aid when on a cutting diet. We discuss this in more detail in our ‘what are fat burners’ guide.

Remember, consistency is key to long-term results. Use the information above as a general guideline, applying it to your lifestyle and needs. While you won’t always be perfect, you’ll see slow and steady progress if you follow our expert guidance.

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